Leeds United welcome Brentford to Elland Road in one of three untelevised Super Sunday matches in the latest round of 2021-22 Premier League.
Depending on results elsewhere, Leeds can climb as high as 11th with victory whereas Brentford can go tenth with a win if Crystal Palace fail to win elsewhere.
Team News
Pascal Struijk is a doubt for Leeds after being substituted with a knock to his hip during Tuesday’s win over Crystal Palace, which first occurred during their draw at Brighton last month.
Luke Ayling and Patrick Bamford (both fitness) are doubts but Robin Koch (groin) remain absent.
Brentford have no fresh injury concerns to report after their defeat at Tottenham on Thursday.
Julian Jeanvier, David Raya (both knee), Kristoffer Ajer, Mathias Jorgensen (both hamstring) and Josh Dasilva (hip) remain ruled out indefinitely.
Stat Attack
- This is Brentford’s first-ever Premier League clash against Leeds.
- Leeds have lost just one of their last five meetings against Brentford (W2, D2, L1).
- Brentford have picked up just two points from their last five visits to Elland Road (D2, L3).
- Both of Leeds’ last two home goals have been scored by Raphinha.
- Failure to score would see Brentford go two consecutive matches without scoring for the first time since suffering goalless draws in November 2020 in Championship.
Prediction
Having endured a slow start to the campaign, Leeds look to have found their groove with one defeat in their last six league matches but they need to start converting more of their chances, especially showing excellent energy in attack against Palace but lacked the final touch.
Brentford meanwhile were sluggish in the first half of Thursday’s loss at Tottenham during which they created few chances, yet showed slight improvement after half-time but were simply outplayed by an energetic Spurs team.
Thomas Frank’s priority after that performance now surely has to be getting his players fired up and focused because Leeds do have the quality to cause similar issues, particularly if the Bees make another slow start which could be costly given their poor comeback from once conceded first.
Leeds though are more wasteful with their shots than Brentford so finishing could well be crucial to the outcome of this match.
Prediction: Leeds 1-1 Brentford
Result: Leeds 2-2 Brentford